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Friday, December 30, 2016

End of the Month Reviews

Not a bad week, I usually get a few more books at the end of the month for some reason.

Green Lantern Corps #11

Well, Kyle with the help of Ganthet and Sayd has successfully brought back Hal from Green Lantern Heaven. Hal tries to tell them about all the happy dead Lanterns, but Ganthet just scoffs at him. I am sure that somehow this will come back to haunt him. Hal may be an idiot, but he usually doesn't just make stuff up.

But they are all in a dither about the location of the rest of the Corps, when they figure out that...hey, Mogo is back, and all is great! So off they go to visit Mogo, and find out that the Corps is still missing. The reason they are missing is that they are in a Kandorish glass bottle, being held by...Larfleeze! Or as they refer to him several times, "Lar-Friggin-Fleeze" which I found to be amusing.

Yes, the Green and Fear Corps are all bottled up together, and with use of a cunning plan by John...and Soranik, they all start fighting amongst themselves, which leads Larfleeze to panic about their collectability, and mint condition. They do manage to bust themselves out of course, and Hal and company are glad to realize that they have re-appeared.

It...it was actually a pretty fun story. Needed more Guy of course, but not bad at all.

Lucifer #13

The Christmas episode! Lucifer and Mazikeen are back together and whooping it up at Lux...or not. A couple of demons make a present for them, and then they all get into Secret Santa, and it all just goes downhill from there. A rather ridiculous and yet...great issue. Actually two stories, with one with an enchanted coin and a store robbery in the beginning that was also pretty darned good. I do like this book. Different art, but hey, even artists deserve a holiday.

Black Widow #9

Well, who should show up but the Winter Soldier! Recluse, aka Natasha's old nemesis, the daughter of the woman who ran the Red Room is still hell-bent on revenge and takes out Natasha's old buddy, and is beating up on Bucky.

Also, the Weeping Lion, for all that he seems to be working for Natasha has an agenda of his own. Gorgeous art by Chris Samnee as usual. A little bit of a breather with this issue I thought, things are happening, but it is all building up to a rip-roaring conclusion, I am sure. Excellent as always.

The Mighty Thor #14

Oh, that Malekith is SUCH a scoundrel. He has stripped Alfheim of most of its assets, and is about to blow it all up, so that he and his evil horde can move on. He has Loki...rather reluctantly at his side, while Sif and the rest of the heroes and Thor, run about madly fighting, but not really able to accomplish much. Oh, and Malekith rather brutally decides to "divorce" the Queen.

Loki tosses her over the balcony of the tower, but not before he looks around to see if there are any hero types around who can rescue her, and naturally, Thor manages to do just that. I am actually rather enjoying Agent Soloman, she has such enthusiasm.

Again, some different artwork this month, but still good. Another good issue as well.

Saga #41

Oh, things are going to hell in a handbasket, as usual. They are apparently all about to be sucked into a Timesuck, and Petrichor is frantic, and nobody is taking her seriously. Prince Robot is all full of lust and shame as usual, and is trying to commit suicide, and Marko walks in and gets blasted, and March, the two-in-one baddie shows up and is out to get the bounty for Hazel.

Alana is clever enough to stall them, and make some offers of her own, Meanwhile, the Will shows up to see Sophie and Gwen, and gives them a bit of a story which Lying Cat naturally sees right through. He hopes that Lying Cat will join up with him again, but she prefers to stay with Sophie, although she is sad about it.

*sniff*

Then a hail of bullets back with the hostage situation, and boy howdy, Marko comes through again. Poor boy, all he wants is to live in peace and he has to keep killing things, and he hates it but damn, is he good at it.

Fabulous. Just fabulous.

So...not a bad way to go out for 2016.

2016 has been an utterly horrible year for all the wonderful people that we have lost, not to mention...other things. Comicbook wise, it has been pretty decent all things considered. I know that Civil War II is still slithering around...the Crossover that Just Won't Die, and I have to admit that I don't have a clue what is going on, and am perfectly happy about that. DC seems to be getting its collective mind back, and bringing back some of its beloved characters, which is a GOOD thing. I just wish that they would do a slightly better job of handling those beloved characters, but hey...out of limbo is still better than not. Marvel has been on a roll, although Civil War still sticks in my craw. There are a ton of really fabulous Indie books out there as well.

So...Happy New Year. And for the love of God, please make it a better one than 2016...although I am nervous. So...very nervous.

Friday, December 23, 2016

So So Reviews

I only got three books this week, and they were... okay, but nothing knocked my socks off. Unlike yesterday, today I actually AM baking and wrapping presents!

Doctor Strange

This was decent, although I can't help wondering if I missed something. Stephen is being driven around town by the evil Eye of the now dead Watcher, who is encouraging murder and mayhem for some reason. Wong is flying around in a biplane with whatshername, and Mordo is also looking for Strange... not to mention Dormammu.

It gets a bit hectic and even a tad disjointed, but the art as always is superb. It's a good issue... but not an amazing issue.

Hellcat

I am actually getting a bit bored with the spat between Patsy and Black Cat, mainly because I still just can't buy Felicia as a murderous Kingpin, especially when her plots are so... banal. She and her little gang of Bad Girls are really just messing with Patsy and her crew for the hell of it, as far s I can see.

The bit with them stuffed in the magic bag and Jubilee being really hungry was amusing, and again, it was a perfectly fine issue, but for me, there were no real laugh-out- loud moments. But still not bad.

Captain Marvel #1

So... after all the pain and idiocy of the never-ending :Civil War II, :Carol just considered to be a great hero. She is talking to a shrink, has bad dreams about Iron Man, and Spider Woman is still passed, but her own responsibility seems to have been swept under a rug by the powers that be, which is apparently... Alpha Flight?

I have been trying NOT to read as much of Civil War as possible, so I assume there are a lot of things that I (thankfully) don't know about... but still! I don't really like Carol all that much anyway, so I doubt that I will continue with this book.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Marvel Movies

Here it is, almost Christmas, and while I should be doing things like wrapping presents and making fudge, I am instead, obsessing about Marvel Movies. I really really like most of the Marvel Movies. I think that when it comes to casting actors to bring some of my favorite characters to life, they have done a simply superb job. Seriously, Robert Downey Jr. IS Iron Man, Chris Evans is a perfect Captain America and may have the most glorious behind I have ever beheld. Chris Hemsworth is the perfect embodiment of Thor, and Tom Hiddleston is simply sublime as Loki. In fact about the only actor I don't have much use for is Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch and that is mainly because I don't like the Character much...not because of the Actress.

But anyway, the other evening I decided to go on a bit of a binge and watched Thor, Avengers and Thor II, or as I like to call it, the Loki Trilogy. And I have come to the conclusion that Odin is a really big idiot.

I love Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and there is very little that I enjoy more on this earth than to watch he and Hiddleston chew up the scenery together. But...as a History major and Mythology buff, I have to say that Odin made a HUGE mistake in throwing Loki into a dungeon without a trial at the beginning of Thor, The Dark World. And even before that. It shouldn't have been Loki that gave Odin the Heebie Jeebies, it should have been Thor!

Thor is the heir to the throne, no matter what Odin said about both of them being born to be Kings. And where does the opposition to the throne's policies always align? Why with the camp of the next-in-line of course. Sif, and the Idiots Three weren't particularly loyal to Odin, they were loyal to Thor. Heimdall was loyal to Thor. They ran of with Thor to Jotunheim in direct disobedience to the edicts of their lawful King, without a care in the world, because Thor asked them to do it. Heimdall let them take the Bifrost in direct disobedience to the King because...well, who really knows why, other than he suspected some shenanigans from Loki. Loki by the way was the only one trying to NOT go to Jotunheim!

Later when Thor has been banished to Midgard, it all blows up in Odin's face of course. Loki was about the only one who WAS loyal to him! Finding out he'd been lied to his whole life put a damper on that of course, and Odin should have known better, but as I said...he's a bit of an idiot. Loki was loyal to Odin, and Odin should have used that loyalty as a way to keep a lid on Thor.

It was even worse when Loki was hauled back from New York, and Odin had a temper tantrum and tossed him into jail without doing ANYTHING to find out exactly what happened to him during that time between falling off the Bifrost and showing up on Midgard. Where the heck did he even get that army anyway? Why did he give a rat's ass about Midgard? Isn't anyone happy that he's actually alive instead of dead? But no, Odin sends Thor, who is about as thick as a brick, and the first thing he does is grab his long-lost brother by the throat and throw him from a plane, and then threaten to beat him up, if he doesn't give Odin his toy Tesseract. A "I'm glad you're not dead" would probably have been the nice thing to say. Then Thor tries to kill both Captain America and Iron Man, and nobody thinks that anything is wrong with this? And if Odin and Asgard couldn't see what happened to Loki after he fell, then how does Odin and Thor know about the Chitauri? Plus the whole "He's adopted" line just makes me want to slap Thor.

It was pretty obvious that Loki had been tortured into helping Thanos, and that his idea for subjugating Earth was absurd. He practically waved a flag in front of Thor and the Avengers, that he didn't really want to succeed. He DID succeed in getting himself and the Tesseract back to Asgard and the Mind Gem out of the hands of Thanos. But did Odin ask him about any of this? No, he just tossed him in the dungeon. And then when the Dark Elves attack in Thor II, Thor and his buddies betray him AGAIN! If Thor asks them to, Sif and the Idiots Three will do anything, up to, and including committing treason. And hey, so does Heimdall!

I am rather hoping that all of this will come out in the future movies, but I'm not holding my breath. I had a crush on Thor from when I was about fifteen, and I started collecting comics, but there is no doubt that he can be a lummox, and that even in the Marvel Comics, Loki always got the short end of the stick. But Odin is supposed to be smart...even though he doesn't seem to show much proof of that, and making it easier for your successor to undermine you is just bad bad politics. He should have backed the son who was actually LOYAL to him instead of Thor.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

On Time Reviews!

Hey, I am actually posting on a Thursday about the books that I bought on Wednesday! Oh, I am on Fire!

The Flash #12

Well, we wrap up the story with the Shade, which was okay. It had Hope O'Dare going bad, driven nuts by the Darkness, and the Shade dithering around wringing his hands mostly, while Barry and Wally did...stuff, and Iris was semi-possessed along with Hope. But goodness always wins and Barry and Wally ran fast, and...well, it all got better in the end.

You sucked me in withe Dickie, DC, but I don't think that I'll be staying with this book. It's...okay, but doesn't really reach out and grab me.

Green Lantern Corps #10

Well, Hal has blown himself up to finish off Sinestro, and the Corps is trapped in a bottle like Kandor on Brainiac's ship, and they aren't very happy about it. Hal turned himself into a Ring, because he IS just that awesome, and flies off to where Ganthet and Sayd were enjoying their retirement. So they sigh, and put away the pina coladas, and summon Kyle, from wherever it is that he has been hanging out, as the White Lantern. I fully admit that I have completely lost track of Kyle lately.

After a lot of yelling and sweating, they manage to grab Hal from his Green Lantern Heaven, where he was being shown the ropes by Abin Sur, and hanging out with a bunch of nice Dead Lanterns. Glad that they have all gotten over that whole Blackest Night mess. But Kyle is Awesome, and hauls Hal back so that he can be Awesome too.

Not enough Guy. But nice to see Kyle.

Wonder Woman #12

Diana is still trying to fit in, and hangs out with Steve, while she uses the Lasso's power to find out what the terrorists were up to, in their mall attack. It...isn't good, that's for sure. Nicola Scott's artwork, is as always just gorgeous.

Oh, and Ares shows up.

Hawkeye #l

Well, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was nice. I like Kate, even if she isn't THE Hawk guy. She's back in California, trying to set herself up as a detective, which is nice. Say, whatever happened to that plotline with her Dad going all evil and Madame Masque anyway? Most of the people trying to hire her, are actually looking for either Clint or the Optometrist, which I found to be rather a hoot. But she does get an actual client, who is being cyber stalked, and is getting increasingly squicked by it.

Kelly Thompson writes, and does a bang-up job, and Leonardo Romero does the art, which is vaguely Samnee-esque, which is fine with me.

Very Good!

Squirrel Girl #15

Now this is just silly, but that is my favorite thing anyway. It is told from the viewpoint of Mew, Nancy's beloved cat. Otherwise, it is just the Taskmaster taking on Squirrel Girl, the Avengers, and practically EVERYBODY, but only in the background. You see a leg or body part go flying by and some purple prose from Taskmaster, but mostly it is Mew, fantasizing in her own cat dreams with Mice, or getting the anchovies off some discarded pizza, and making friends with a dog. It almost looks like...could that be Pizza Dog? I think it Is! And together they two of them manage to...DEFEAT TASKMASTER! Or at least give Doreen the idea of how to defeat Taskmaster. With the glory of her bushy Tail! Taskmaster doesn't HAVE a tail!

God I do love this book.

Not a bad week. Not a fantastic, week, but a pretty good week, and at this point in my life, I'll take that. Heck I am still giddy about getting my cable and computer and phone an television back. That was a looooong week!

Thursday, December 08, 2016

Itty Bitty Reviews

Well...that was a rather small week. Not a bad week, mind you, but I find that I am getting fewer and fewer books lately. On the other hand, I am awfully happy with the books that I DO get, and I suppose that is the main thing. It was all too common for me to stick with something simply because of habit.

Anyhoo.

Champions #3

I do adore this book. They are all just so darned...cute.

Teen Cyclops joined last issue, and Viv and Amadeus are doing a little tonsil hockey...simply in the name of science...or so they try to convince themselves. Then it is off to some middle eastern country called Sharzad, to fight prejudice and oppression...both of which are good things to fight. They get things done reasonably well, with a lot of good help from the oppressed for a change, girls who are being murdered simply for wanting to read...and it's nice to see them in charge of their own fates. But it is still nice to get some help sometimes.

Great stuff.

Nova #1

I was never a Nova reader, I was too caught up in the Green Lanterns, but I really like young Sam, so I thought I would give this a chance, and darn it, it's pretty good! Sam is off helping Ego, who is...to put it mildly...rather hilarious. Richard Ryder is apparently back, but he's having some side effects from what happened when he "died". Which puts him in a very large club...this IS Marvel after all.

It was a good start, and I think that I'll be sticking with this to see how it all ends up.

The Unworthy Thor #2

Beta Ray Bill shows up and offers his hammer to old Thor, who refuses to take it. Thor seems to be just overflowing with humility for a change, which I actually think is a GOOD thing! He's also been kidnapped by the Collector, who wants him to pick up the Mjolnir that was flung into this Universe by the old Doomverse. Everyone else who has tried to touch it gets blown up.

Thor grabs it, and gets a history lesson. Which is nice, but apparently he is STILL unworthy! Bummer. And apparently SHEILD has...Thanos locked up in a cell? Or the Ultimates, or whomever, I haven't been reading that book. Again, I like this so far, and will be staying with it for the foreseeable future.

Sunday, December 04, 2016

Oh Thank God!

Well...that was an interesting week. Last Friday, and by that I mean over a week ago, my modem, or tower thingie that I get from the Cable Company that powers ALL my stuff, decided to die. As in completely dead. So I called the nice girl at Frontier, and she ordered me a new one, which would come in three business days.

Okay. No phone, no wi-fi, no television, no computer...I can last five days or so. It basically meant reading a book by candlelight, but I could cope. I am an old lady, I remember the world before!

The new thingie came on Tuesday, which was quicker than I expected, and with the help of my twenty-something daughter, we installed it. Except...it still didn't work. The green lights were nice, but the broadband telephone lights were still red. So we called again. The new nice girl talked us through things, and entered a code or something, and then realized that something was wrong with the phone lines. Now keep in mind that way back the first time, I had mentioned that it was an AT&T modem thingie, and therefore fairly old. But a service call was scheduled for Thursday.

So Thursday I waited. And waited. And finally about 3:30 I called again. Talked to a nice boy this time. No service order was ever placed, but they could come out the next day on Friday. And they did! And we did need a new telephone line, because the new modem thingie was updated and would no longer work on the old out-dated line, and the tech scolded me, because we should have had a tech come out the first time.

Arrrggghhh!

But at least I now have a telephone, television, computer and wi-fi. And that is why I couldn't update or surf the web, or read my tablet, or balance my checkbook, or watch bad tv. Thank god I have a cell phone!

So...on to Reviews!

Tiny tiny reviews.

Black Widow #8

Well, Natasha has broken up the successor to the Red Room, but she is having trouble finding all the little darlings who have graduated, so she is using the wiles of the Weeping Lion, to find them. Turns out that one of them boards a bus to go to the White House on a field trip, and plans to assassinate the Vice President! It's all very exciting, especially when it isn't just one little girl but a bunch of them!

And something odd is happening on the Moon.

Good stuff as usual.

Ms Marvel #13

Get out the Vote! Strange things are going on in Kamala's school and town, with a bizarre redistricting and blatant gerrymandering commencing, so that the sleezeball Chuck Worthy that she ran into previously, could take over, and nobody feels like voting, but Kamala manages to whip up some enthusiasm, and it's all rather delightful.

I do love this book.

Saga #40

Well, I think that Prince Robot is losing what few marbles he had left. Hazel is getting a wee bit jealous at the thought of another baby. Marko is still dealing with his penchent for violence, and hey, Gwen and Lying Cat show up!

About Me

I am a middle-aged suburban
housewife with four kids and a husband, two dogs and a cat who has trouble figuring out what the litter box is for. I probably have waaaay too much time on my hands. Actually, in updating this, the cat is gone, and most of the kids have moved out, but we still have all of their stuff, so it is a good thing that we have a big house. Also, I have become a Grandmother!